Concrete Grinding - Basement Floor - Stained Concrete

[fishfinder72]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice. I am remodeling my basement into a family room/bar and bedroom. I have carpet in the bedroom and family room area but the bar area and below the stairs is still concrete. It has some adhesive residue and paint residue from previous owners. I would like this area to not be carpet for spills and tracking snow/water/mud in from outside.

My thoughts are to stain the concrete and then clear seal over it. I am assuming I would need to get a grinder to get everything off and back down to concrete to do so? Anyone have recommendations or suggestions? I thought about tile or laminate but i like the stained concrete look. It is approximately 300sq feet.

Thanks for the insight.

[Cheers]

grinder will produce an awful dust issue in the whole house. For me that would be a deal breaker

[Pat K]

Depending on the age of the house there may be asbestos in the adhesive and lead in the paint.

[delcecchi]

Is there some sort of etch or chemical that would strip the stuff without making too big a mess or smelling too bad?

[fishfinder72]

I wouldnt be as concerned about the dirty issue as much as if the asbestos factor fell into play. Does anyone have other suggestions for basement flooring?

[BoxMN]

Vinyl snap together, goes in just like wood laminate, same lengths. I put it in my kitchen and it works great for any area that might get wet, like bathroom or basement. Looks great, about $3 +- a foot and VERY easy to install. Nice on feet too. Big box stores and flooring stores have it. Wood or slate looks.

Good luck.

[Walleye Guy]

I would tile it. There are some really cool looking tiles out there. There has to be one that you would like. Safer, cleaner and easier.

[SkunkedAgain]

For my basement renovation, I had carpet installed except at the bottom of the stairs. There is a strip of vinyl laminate that goes to the workshop door. It looks really nice and allows me to not worry about getting the floor dirty. They laid it right over the concrete.

[Tom7227]

I had some wood laminate put in over a cement floor two years ago. The floor was very uneven and had to be leveled. Most was done with some cement floor leveling compound but the guy also had to do some grinding. Memory was that he used a grinder that had a vacuum attached. There was dust but it was less than I expected. Of course the room was totally empty and sealed off from the rest of the house so it wasn't a big deal. The guy wore a mask and ear protection and I would suggest it if you DIY.

[fishfinder72]

Thanks for the ideas and options guys. I am leaning away from grinding and possibly towards tiling. Can I grout right to the concrete floor that has glue residue on it from old adhesive tile?

[Sandmannd]

Can't remember the name of it off the top of my head but Menards has this floating ceramic tile. It links together and then you grout it. I used it in our foyer and bathroom in our new home. Very easy and looks great. Look into that you can go right on concrete with it.

[Down Deep]

I wouldn't use any tile that needs grout. Basements tend to have some moisture in them and the grout could have issues with mildew and need maintenance. There are machines similar to buffers that have special heads with scrapers that will take off the residual glue and smooth or remove the loose paint. There is very little dust raised with this method. Then you could put down an epoxy coating in a cool color.